


Ballroom dance

by vindoletta



Category: Lovestruck - Fandom, Reigning Passions (Visual Novel)
Genre: Banter, Other, Romantic Fluff, Tenderness, context? plot? never heard of them, corny speech and lovesick gazes, criminal use of puns, for the time being it goes under Other but I'll have to look it up, how do you tag a romantic oneshot with a non binary character that uses they/them pronouns in ao3??, it's not f/m nor f/f nor m/m, more pining than in a conifers forest, probably purple prose and lots of grammar and syntax errors, stomping all rules of good writing by starting and ending with dialog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:21:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21794488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vindoletta/pseuds/vindoletta
Summary: MC has already experienced the darkest side of life at Court, but Galen is determined to stay by her side and make her forget about it for one night.MC's name here is Melita.
Relationships: Galen of the Wind/Main Character
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	Ballroom dance

“You are ridiculous.”

Yet she proffers her gloved hand, which I am grateful to take – tenderly, like she should be held. 

“I am in love,” I respond simply.

She smirks, eyebrow raised. “I believed those were considered the same thing here in Altadellys.”

At the first notes of the lyres and flutes the noise quiets. We begin to perform the steps of this complex dance, which bring us closer and then further away like waves lapping at the shore. 

“Some would say so,” I concede. Through the sea of dancing couples I spot the mistress of spies near one of the corners, her unveiled gaze fixed on us. “But I am not of the same opinion.”

After all, it would be better if I stayed away from the public eye in court. Safer. 

But that would mean leaving Melita alone after I promised to help her. 

“Oh?” She keeps her tone light. “Do pray tell then, what does love mean to the great sea dog, renowned in all the seas and lands known, experienced traveler and adventurer, Galen of the Wind?” 

I can’t help but laugh heartily at that, and several heads turns to us. I watch all the nobles spin and weave their way around the ballroom, as if little cogs of a bigger mechanism. 

“You have picked up a lot of mannerisms in the short time you have been staying in court. Rumours say Princess Piama is very pleased with her newest pupil.” I tell her, still smiling. 

She snorts and rolls her eyes, which makes me grin.

“Really? I thought she would declare me a lost cause. Court etiquette makes no sense, and I still have no idea who my family is.” She sighs, and for the first time, I can glimpse defeat in her eyes, even if she puts on a brave face the next second. “Although I wasn’t expecting to discover it immediately! I will keep looking. I have to. Plus Lyris has promised me he would help, and so has Piama. It was kind of them both even though they had no reason to do so.” 

But after a couple of beats she narrows her eyes. 

“And you are quite good at distracting me and changing subjects, actually. You have not answered my question yet.”

“It seems I have been caught red handed.” I raise our entwined palms in mock surrender.

“Come on. That was a bad joke.” 

“Perhaps. But I assure you, it’s a skill that comes in handy in many situations.”

“Oh, I am sure.” Her lips twitch upwards, but otherwise she keeps a deadpan expression. “You have just went through a masterful demonstration of its uses right now.”

“Only the very best for you, Your Highness.”

“I feel honoured. Do you have any other helpful skills you want to share?”

“Well, I can tie or untie myself to any kind of object.” At her raised eyebrows, I wink and continue. “If you do not mind the suggestion, perhaps you should try your hand at it.”

“Oh, for the sake of – stoooop.”

Her, unable to contain her laugh anymore, eyes gleaming with mirth. Safe and relaxed and happy in my arms, the happiest I have seen her in days ever since the assassination attempt. This is what love is. 

If only I could simply say so.

“Well?” At her prompting, I realise my feet had stopped moving, and I was gazing at her in silence instead. The next couple - two noblewomen dressed in fine silk dresses and glittering jewels that could feed a whole village for a year - has to weave their way around us to keep on dancing around the enormous ballroom. 

I pull her gently by the elbow to a corner to avoid the tide of oncoming dancers, and keep my voice low, tone conspiratorial. She unconsciously leans towards me. Her aquamarina eyes remind me of warm seas and exuberant lands across the continent – and for a moment it’s as if the two of us are all alone.

“Alright. Since you have seen through my astute ruse, you shall receive an answer. It is only fair.” 

I flash her a small smile, then put on my best grandiloquent voice.

“Love is the rarest and most precious treasure of all. One it can’t be neither earned, bought, stolen nor plundered, for such a miraculous treasure only must be taken and given away freely. And unlike others, the more it is given and received, the more it grows.” 

She leans back. She seems slightly disappointed, yet she smiles and shakes her head good-naturedly. 

“Of course that’s what a pirate would say. I don’t know what I was expecting.”


End file.
